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SPEECH 

OF 

/ 

HON. WM. SULZER, 

OK NEW YORK:, 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JUNK 1 7, 1 897. 



WASHINGTON. 

1S9S. 
Jf.u.S. 









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SPEECH 

OF 

HON. WM. SULZEE 



On the joint resolution (S. R. 26) declaring that a condition of 
public war exists in Cuba, and that strict neutrality shall be 
maintained— 

Mr. LACEY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from New- 
York [Mr. Sulzer] feels, I understand, a profound in- 
terest in Cuba and I yield him five minutes. 

A Member. Give him ten. 

Mr. SULZER. Mr. Speaker, in the few moments given 
to me by the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Lacey] I desire 
to speak for Cuban liberty. On Monday last I had the 
honor to present to this House 

Mr. WILLIAM A. STONE. Will the gentleman al- 
low me a question? 

Mr. SULZER. I have only five minutes. The gen- 
tleman can have all the time he wants after I conclude. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Sulzer] is entitled to the floor upon the pending bill. 

Mr. SULZER. Mr. Speaker, to continue, on Monday 
last I had the honor to present to this House a monster 
petition signed by hundreds of thousands of citizens of 
the United States 

Mr. WILLIAM A. STONE. It is on just that point 
I wanted to ask the gentleman a question. 

Mr. SULZER (continuing). Requesting this House to 
pass Senator Morgan's resolution granting belligerent 
rights to the Cuban patriots. That resolution came over 
to this House several weeks ago. It passed the Senate 
by an overwhelming vote. I am informed it has never 

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been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, be- 
cause the Committee on Foreign Affairs has never been 
appointed. 

We are wasting time here day in and day out while 
hundreds and hundreds of American citizens are lan- 
guishing in Cuban jails for no offense whatever. Our 
trade with Cuba ruined, our flag fired upon, our citizens 
robbed, insulted, and assassinated, or driven like wild 
beasts from their homes and farms in the interior of 
Cuba to the Spanish fortified towns on the coast to starve, 
to sicken, and to die ! The history of the last two years' 
struggle in Cuba is the saddest in all the annals of the 
world. It is high time this great Government should 
protect its citizens and their property in Cuba. It is 
high time we should intervene in the name of humanity, 
civilization, and Christianity, and put a stop to this 
brutal, blood}?", devastating carnage. 

These citizens of the United States in Cuba look to 
this country for their rights and protection. Apparently 
they look in vain. The flag of their country, which should 
protect them, is spit upon by the brutal Spaniards. These 
cruel and bloodthirsty Spaniards trample our flag in the 
dust, ignore treaty rights, and bid defiance to this great 
Republic. 

It is time for us to act. If we do not, we will stand 
disgraced in the opinion of our own liberty-loving citizens 
and before the Christian powers of the world. If we do 
not put a stop to the fiendish barbarities and refined 
cruelties of these Spanish brigands, our boasted republi- 
canism will become a byword and our flag of freedom a 
reproach and a farce. How long shall we submit ? How 
much longer shall we permit poor Cuba to be a human 
shamble ? 

I desired to-day to correct the Journal of the House in 
regard to the petition I presented. Parliamentary tac- 
tics precluded that. We do not know what has become 
of that great petition in favor of "Cuba Libre." The 
House Journal simply says : "To the Committee on For- 

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eign Affairs. " That can not be a fact, for the reason 
that the Committee on Foreign Affairs has not been 
appointed. It should have been appointed long ago. 
The joint resolution of that venerable Senator and friend 
of humanity, Mr. Morgan, granting belligerent rights 
to the Cubans, should be speedily submitted to a vote of 
this House. Some one is responsible for its suppression. 
Somebody is responsible for its delay. Who is the man? 

The Cuban cause is the cause of liberty. By the grace 
of God it will and must triumph. 

The American people to-day are in favor of granting 
to the Cuban patriots belligerent rights. If that ques- 
tion could be submitted to the people of this country, 
they would decide in favor of it by an overwhelming 
majority. The American people would like to know 
why the resolution of Senator Morgan lies on the 
Speaker's desk. They would like to know why no ac- 
tion has been taken by this House on that joint resolu- 
tion of belligerency. If there is "hell on earth," as 
John Sherman said when he was in the Senate, it is in 
Cuba. Does he believe that to-day? If so, then why 
does he not act? We send relief to India; we sympa- 
thize with the Greeks; but we allow our citizens to be 
butchered, murdered, and assassinated in Cuba without 
a protest. 

The policy of that great assassin, Weyler, the greatest 
thief, the greatest coward, the greatest brute, the great- 
est liar, the greatest murderer, the greatest enemy to 
humanity the world has ever known is devastating the 
fairest island in the world within gunshot of our own 
shores, and exterminating as brave a people battling for 
freedom and for independence as ever fought for self- 
government on the face of the earth. If that resolution 
of belligerency could be submitted to this House, I have 
every reason to know that it would pass by an over- 
whelming vote. The American people want Cuba to be 
free. They will see to it sooner or later that Cuba is 
free. I do not know who retards the joint resolution. 

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6 

I do not know who is responsible for the delay in x>ro- 
curing action upon it; but I do know that the day of 
reckoning is not far distant, and the American people, 
who sympathize with those brave and struggling Cuban 
patriots, will hold some one responsible. And woe to 
that man! 

I saw in a newspaper yesterday that the President of 
the United States was in sympathy with the Cuban 
patriots; that he wanted them to succeed and achieve 
their independence, as our forefathers achieved their 
independence. I hope that is true. I am in favor of 
his policy to annex the Hawaiian Islands; but before 
the Hawaiian Islands are annexed I hope the President 
will take some action to make Cuba free and independ- 
ent. He could not do a more popular thing. I read 
from an editorial in last evening's Washington Times 
this statement: 

On Monday last a petition from 600,000 American citizens asking 
recognition of Cuban belligerency was presented. 

Here the hammer fell. [Applause.] 

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